Wickets of Dhoni, Kohli and AB best of my career so far – Rashid Khan

“When I got into the bus, a friend sent me a screenshot of the tweet and I was shocked to see it. I was thinking for like 1-2 hours before I could eventually reply. I really didn’t know what to write, but finally I replied,” Rashid told TOI on Monday.

“The whole of Afghanistan seemed to have seen that tweet. Tendulkar is very, very famous there and everyone was surprised that he had such high praise for me. Statements like these motivate young players and infuse positive energy,” he added.

Rashid, who was adjudged the best T20 bowler at the Ceat awards on Monday night, ended IPL 2018 with 21 wickets, just behind Kings XI’s Andrew Tye, who returned with 24 wickets for the purple cap. And, remarkably, every top-order batsman was troubled by him at some point during the tournament.

They simply failed to read his well-disguised googlies, leading to their downfall. Rashid picked out three wickets that were special to him. “Getting rid of Virat (Kohli), AB (de Villiers) and MS Dhoni was very satisfying. In fact, I consider them the best wickets of my career so far. They are really good players of spin bowling so getting them out made it memorable for me.” “I have not been able to spend too much time with my family, finding myself with them barely for 15 to 20 days,” he said.

“It’s a big match for us as playing Tests is a dream for every cricket-playing nation. All of us who are selected for that match will consider ourselves lucky. After all, we will be making history. And, it doesn’t get bigger than the fact that we will be playing India in India,” insisted Rashid.